The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led protest took place at Mumbai's Shivaji Park on Friday against the Election Commission and alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Only a handful of Bollywood celebrities were seen extending their support to CJP as they demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in electoral proceedings.
Bollywood veteran Shabana Azmi joined CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke on stage and addressed the crowd. Extending her support, she said that it is about democracy, rights and people's voice.
“This is a question of our democracy. It is a question of our rights. It is a question of our voice. We have been told since childhood to cast our votes, claim our rights, and raise our voices. But when our fundamental right is snatched away or manipulated, what is a person supposed to do? Naturally, they will protest, and this ‘people’s power’ is unstoppable now,” Azmi said, as quoted by ANI.
“Once the spark is lit, you can see how it spreads; it is happening all across India,” she added.
Azmi alleged that names of “thousands upon thousands” of people were removed from the lists. “After today’s protest, we will see if action is taken or if we have to keep fighting this battle. We have to fight the battle for as long as it takes,” she also said, reported ANI.
Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah extended support to Abhijeet Dipke. In a video shared by the CJP founder, Shah was seen greeting him with a hug.
Besides them, singer-composer Vishal Dadlani, filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj and actor Atul Kulkarni were among the celebs who joined the Mumbai protest.
Earlier, Dadlani, via a video on social media, urged people of Mumbai to join the demonstration.
On social media, Dia Mirza and Konkona Sen Sharma reposted a video shared by Shabana Azmi from the protest, which read, "Mumbai tujhe salam." Richa Chadha, Twinkle Khanna, Zoya Akhtar, Shibani Akhtar, Tara Sharma Saluja and Saba Pataudi also reacted to the video in the comment section.
Meanwhile, CJP is set to organise a march to Jantar Mantar in Delhi on October 10 if CEC Gyanesh Kumar does not resign.
"If Gyanesh Kumar doesn't resign, cockroaches from across India will march to Delhi & protest at Jantar Mantar on October 10," Dipke said in a post on X, urging citizens to join the peaceful agitation.
